logo
Aryna Sabalenka Back To Winnings Ways In Berlin

Aryna Sabalenka Back To Winnings Ways In Berlin

NDTVa day ago

Twelve days after her bruising French Open final defeat, world number one Aryna Sabalenka returned to winnings ways as she wrapped up her second round match against Rebeka Masarova in Berlin on Thursday 6-2, 7-6 (8/6). The match had been suspended after the first set on Wednesday and the Belarusian was made to work hard on the resumption as the 112th-ranked Swede Masarova took her to the tiebreak. The win takes her into the quarter-finals as she looks to build up her grass court form ahead of Wimbledon which starts in 10 days time.
The 27-year-old has won 20 titles but none of those has come on grass.
She will face either 11th-ranked Kazakh Elena Rybakina or Czech doubles specialist Katerina Siniakova in a bid to reach the last four in Berlin for the first time in her career.
In the first match of the day, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, currently ranked down at 164, needed two hours 20 minutes to overcome Russian 12th seed Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.
In the last eight she will face the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the woman she beat in the Wimbledon final two years ago.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Halle Open: Zverev overcomes stomach bug to set up semifinal with Medvedev
Halle Open: Zverev overcomes stomach bug to set up semifinal with Medvedev

The Hindu

time41 minutes ago

  • The Hindu

Halle Open: Zverev overcomes stomach bug to set up semifinal with Medvedev

Alexander Zverev's quest for a first grasscourt title took an unexpected turn at the Halle Open on Friday when the German second seed was forced to sprint from court to vomit mid-match before rallying to defeat Italy's Flavio Cobolli 6-4, 7-6(8). Second seed Zverev started the match on the front foot by breaking in the first game, but as he was serving in the second, he requested a toilet break to throw up and bolted down the tunnel. Once he returned, Zverev struggled with the intensity at first and clearly looked unwell, bending over in exhaustion after points and gasping for breath after a marathon rally. 'I felt fine before the match. Then, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt really, really bad. I felt ill, went to throw up and then 15 minutes later, I felt OK again,' Zverev said. 'I don't know what it was. I've never experienced that before. I hope I'll be fine in the next couple of hours when the adrenaline settles. After that, I think it was a pretty good match.' ALSO READ: Sinner says early Halle exit gives him more time to prepare for Wimbledon Although nowhere near 100%, Zverev held serve as he slowly drew on his reserves of energy, firing his first ace of the match on set point. The second set was an even contest as Cobolli relied on his movement to continue troubling Zverev, but the German eventually triumphed in a close tiebreak, finishing the match with 22 winners and 12 points at the net. The semifinal pits Zverev against Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, a familiar foe who holds a 12-7 head-to-head advantage and has won their last three meetings. 'I think he's the guy that I played the most in my career. I'm looking forward to it,' Zverev added. 'A lot of things happened in the last 18 months. He's one of my toughest opponents in my career. It's going to be a great match, and I'm really looking forward to facing him.' Medvedev moved into the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Alex Michelsen despite suffering a nosebleed in the second set, which forced the 2021 Halle runner-up to take a medical timeout. However, the Russian served well to deny his opponent a single break point opportunity and wrapped up the contest in 85 minutes as he reached the last four without dropping a set, with the only thing causing problems being the shadows on the court. 'The shadows on the court made the conditions quite difficult. It took some time to get used to it. It was then better in the second set,' said Medvedev, who will return to the top 10 ahead of Wimbledon.

The Magic Of Carlos Alcaraz
The Magic Of Carlos Alcaraz

NDTV

time3 hours ago

  • NDTV

The Magic Of Carlos Alcaraz

The Stade Roland Garros is named after French World War 1 fighter pilot and aviation pioneer (Eugène Adrien Roland Georges Garros). Over the years, another high-flier, albeit in tennis apparel, became synonymous with the venue. Winning 14 singles titles at one Grand Slam event will have that effect. Most tennis fans in fact believe that what Rafael Nadal managed to accomplish on the red clay of Paris is not just otherworldly, but frankly impossible to replicate. But a certain 22-year-old, who was barely into his second year on this planet when his compatriot, Nadal, won his maiden French Open title in 2005, would no doubt have pictured himself winning title number 15, someday. Carlos Alcaraz will have no memory of how Nadal beat Mariano Puerta to triumphantly lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires 20 years ago, but he made sure every serious tennis fan in the world will forever remember how he came back from being two sets down to successfully defend his French Open crown, while saving as many as three Championship points (match points in a final). Read that again. Only two men before this had saved Championship points en route to winning a Slam title in the Open Era - Gaston Gaudio in 2004 at Roland Garros and Novak Djokovic in 2019 at Wimbledon. Since the Open Era began in 1968, there had been only eight men who had come back from two sets down to win a Grand Slam final. On June 8, Alcaraz became the ninth. The ninth man in 57 years. It's not the most logical of things, but it is a facet of human nature that sometimes it takes a herculean effort to make people realise the obvious. There of course has been a lot of talk, for a while now, about who the worthy successors will be of the Big 3 (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic), and names like Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have been on top of the list of potentials. But after what we witnessed on the court Philippe-Chatrier of the Stade Roland Garros in the French Open men's singles final this year - a clash of two different but supremely effective playing styles, in what was the longest ever final played at the venue (5 hours and 29 minutes) - there's no doubt that tennis fans will officially anoint both players as the biggest torchbearers of the new era in global men's singles tennis. This is the rivalry in men's tennis to watch out for, for now. The last six Slam titles have been shared by the two best players of this generation. It wasn't a surprise then to hear six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker say on Eurosport Germany, "It was the same with Federer, Djokovic and Nadal. What epic duels they've had over 15 years - and that's exactly the level I see Carlos and Jannik at." Seven-time Slam champion, Mats Wilander, told TNT Sports, "I thought: 'This is not possible - they're playing at a pace that is not human.'" A new era in men's tennis has well and truly begun. There's absolutely no doubt that tennis, like most other extremely physical sports, is mostly a young person's game. As the body ages and the reflexes become slower, it takes longer and longer to recuperate physically. Consequently, more and more 'older' players are left by the wayside. This is also one factor that made the likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic titans of the sport - they didn't seem to be afflicted by the usual tyrannies of ageing, like most mortals. But even so, to win five Grand Slam titles by the age of 22 is a monumental achievement. Alcaraz is the third youngest man to clinch five Slams after Bjorn Borg (21) and Rafa Nadal (22). But then, Alcaraz has always been "a phenom". He turned professional at the age of 15 in 2018 and broke into the men's top 100 rankings by 2021. He finished as the world number 35 that year (2021), after making it to the US Open quarter-finals - the youngest men's singles Grand Slam quarter-finalist since the then 18-year-old Michael Chang in 1990 at the French Open. From a first-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist to a five-time Slam champion in four years. Now, that is some super-fast progression. However, what is most remarkable about Alcaraz's development, so far, is that he is as comfortable on the fast (not as fast as it used to be of course) Wimbledon grass as he is on the slow, grind-it-out clay of Roland Garros. Most tennis players who come out of the Spanish stable are clay-court masters, because they are reared on clay from a very early age. Out of the 22 Slam titles that Nadal won in his career, 14 were won on clay - that's almost 64% of his total tally. Most people feel that a Spaniard's favourite tennis surface will always be clay, but Alcaraz has turned that stereotype on its head. Some experts feel that clay, in fact, does not really suit his high-risk, high-reward style of play because the longer rallies increase the chances of unforced errors for him, among other factors. So far in his career, Alcaraz has won Slam titles on all three different varieties of courts - hard, grass and clay, having clinched the US Open, Wimbledon and French Open titles. Some might feel hard courts might suit his game the most, but that would be inaccurate, going by his progression - he won the US Open in 2022 as his maiden Slam title, but hasn't won a hard-court Slam since then, while winning two Wimbledon and two French Open titles since then. Even the all-time greats like Federer, Rafa and Novak have been vulnerable on certain surfaces. Federer, who won 20 Grand Slams, managed to win just one French Open title. Nadal won Wimbledon just twice. Djokovic, in fact, is one player who has come very close to being almost invincible on all surfaces, but he, too, clearly prefers hard and grass courts. So, which is Carlos Alcaraz's favourite surface? The scary thing is: he might be a complete all-surface player. Of course, he has miles to go before he can legitimately earn that epithet, but even some of the legends of the game have conceded that he might have the best qualities of the Big 3, rolled into one. Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi told TNT Sports, "....You gotta remember this guy has defence and speed like Novak, if not more. He has feel like Federer, you could argue at times if not more. He has RPMs in pace like Rafa. You could argue maybe even more." There have been only four men in this century who have won at least one Grand Slam title four years in a row. Alcaraz is the fourth. The first three were Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. There's a certain steely determination that runs through Alcaraz's veins. And it's not surprising. After all, he does have tennis in his blood. Carlos' father is a tennis player-turned-coach and handed Carlos a racquet at the age of four. That is when he joined the Real Sociedad Club de Campo de Murcia, where his father was coach and administrator. His father lit the spark, and it was noticed by no-nonsense manager Albert Molina when Carlos was just 11. Molina is also from Murcia (like Alcaraz) and was instrumental in the global talent-management company, IMG, signing the prodigy. He also introduced Carlos to former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who joined the Alcaraz camp as head coach in 2019. A recent Netflix documentary revealed how Molina was quite upset with Alcaraz when the youngster went to Ibiza for a holiday after losing to Nadal in the 2023 French Open. Molina felt the then 20-year-old was not taking his upcoming commitments, including Wimbledon, seriously. Alcaraz had the perfect reply for his manager - his first Wimbledon title, just a few weeks later. This anecdote shows, in many ways, how Alcaraz can switch on in an instant and can fuel himself with positivity and confidence, no matter what the situation. In the French Open final this time, Alcaraz was down love-40, trailing 3-5 in the fourth set against Sinner. He managed to save all three match points to turn the match on its head, before going on to win the fifth set tie-break and the Championship and scripting one of the all-time greatest comebacks in the sport. Alcaraz is only the second male player after Roger Federer to have remained unbeaten in his first five Slam finals. Ferrero, who has been coaching him since Alcaraz was 16, has gone on record to say that even he thought the Spaniard wouldn't be able to come back from that position, but "...with Carlos, everything is possible." Those might just turn out to be prophetic words.

Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu's hilarious exchange goes viral ahead of US Open Mixed Doubles
Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu's hilarious exchange goes viral ahead of US Open Mixed Doubles

Hindustan Times

time4 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu's hilarious exchange goes viral ahead of US Open Mixed Doubles

Carlos Alcaraz is set to team up with US Open 2021 champion Emma Raducanu in the upcoming US Open. The Spanish tennis sensation, who won his fifth Grand Slam at the French Open recently, will team up with Raducanu in the Mixed Doubles event of the tournament. Ahead of the event, Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu are still working to get on the same page. The official handle of the US Open dropped snippets of a hilarious interview featuring the two tennis stars. Alcaraz had earlier said that he requested Raducanu to partner with him for the US Open, Sports Illustrated reported. After some hesitation, the Briton, who is ranked 36 in the WTA, agreed. The clip starts with the players being asked to pick a coin flip. Both pick opposite sides, with Raducanu saying she always chooses tails. Alcaraz responded that his choice 'depends on the mood of the day.' The hilarious struggle continued when Alcaraz asked Raducanu what she would pick if they won the coin toss. Raducanu joked that she would let him pick. Alcaraz quipped, 'All the pressure is on me.' The clip ended with both players unable to stop laughing. A total of 16 teams have entered the event till June 16, as per the official website of the US Open. The matches will start from August 19 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. A prize money of $1 million will be awarded to the winning team. The format has undergone a revamp this year, with organizers filling it up with dream teams. The upcoming edition of the US Open will feature a blockbuster line-up of stars, including: • Emma Navarro and Jannik Sinner • Zheng Qinwen and Jack Draper • Jessica Pegula and Tommy Paul • Jasmine Paolini and Lorenzo Musetti • Elena Rybakina and Taylor Fritz • Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev • Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe • Aryna Sabalenka and Grigor Dimitrov • Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud • Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas • Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz • Belinda Bencic and Alexander Zverev • Olga Danilovic and Novak Djokovic • Taylor Townsend and Ben Shelton • Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori • Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios The Spaniard will play with top-ranked British tennis player Emma Raducanu. The Mixed Doubles event will start on August 19. The qualifying matches for the Singles tournament kick off on August 18. Yes, he defeated Jannik Sinner to win at Roland Garros this year.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store